The United Nations and Global Security: The Norm is Mightier Than the Sword [Abstract]

Ethics & International Affairs, Volume 9 (1995)

Barnett argues that the United Nations, by operating on the principle of the
consent of the parties, can encourage the development of a more stable and
cooperative security architecture. The articulation and transmission of norms
and the establishment of mechanisms can encourage transparency in interstate and
internal matters. After the Cold War some entertained the possibility of
increasing United Nations involvement in security affairs and making it a
muscular security organization. Such visions, however, outstripped either what
the United Nations was immediately capable of accomplishing or what the member
states were willing to support. These developments demand a more pragmatic
assessment of the United Nations to learn what it can do well, what it cannot do
well, and how it can become more effective.